Reply #9: That is true, but it is significant that he did almost as well as Wexler

[karynnj]

did when Obama headed the ticket. http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/election_results/us_house/ against the same opponent. (This is convenient as this can't be just that the Republican ran a poor campaign. It is also worth noting that this district has an unusually high share of elderly voters. They have been targeted for almost a year with claims that Obama was hurting Medicare. That the numbers did not shift more than they did suggests that this group of elderly voters did not buy it.

There has to be some value to being the well known incumbent. It looks like all the Republican did was to get the percent that had gone to an independent - who was a "centrist" Democrat who had lost to Wexler in the primary.